Korean Air Chairman Gets His Hands Dirty Disinfecting Aircraft

About 30 employees and executives, including Korean Air Chairman Walter Cho, today voluntarily participated in the disinfection work of an Airbus A330-300 aircraft that completed its flight on the Jeju-Gimpo route on 28 June.

After receiving training on safety guidelines and cabin disinfection methods, they thoroughly cleaned the seats, armrests, seat belts and meal tables as well as windows and toilets using cleaning cloths and disinfectant.

Mr. Cho said, "Korean Air puts the health and safety of its passengers as our top priority. Executives and employees have come together to assure customers of our dedication to delivering an even safer in-flight environment."

Korean Air maintains safe flights by thoroughly disinfecting all its aircraft. The airline carries out disinfection more often than the legal requirements. Domestic flights are disinfected more than once a week, and additional disinfection work is performed on all international flights arriving at Incheon International Airport and those departing from Incheon to the Americas.

In addition, if a passenger shows symptoms of COVID19, the aircraft is isolated and undergoes a special disinfection process.

Korean Air disinfects using MD-125, a sterilization product approved by the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is known as an effective product to eliminate COVID19.

The airline also checks the temperatures of all passengers before boarding their flight. On board, cabin crews work in protective gowns, goggles and masks, and all passengers are required to wear face masks during the flight. Hand sanitizer is also available at the airport and on the aircraft.

Approximately half of the cabin air is from outside the airplane and half is filtered air from inside the cabin. Outside air continuously enters the airplane through the engine where it is compressed, and cabin air is recirculated after passing through high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, which remove almost 100% of any particulate matter that may be present. The air is exchanged every two to three minutes. Also, cabin air on passenger aircraft is designed to flow from ceiling to floor rather than from front to back, minimizing the spread of contaminants through the cabin.

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